Dikembe Mutombo lay on the court clinching the game ball after the No. 8 Nuggets defeated the No. 1 SuperSonics in the first round of the 1994 NBA playoffs. (Bill Chan, The Associated Press)

May 7, 1994. For Nuggets fans, the day will always be remembered as one of the finest in Denver hoops history. The Nuggets had overcome a 2-0 deficit against the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round of the NBA playoffs to win in five games and become the first No. 8 seed to upset a No. 1 seed.

Dikembe Mutombo, the 7-foot-2 defensive powerhouse and face of the Nuggets from 1991-96, led the team with 15 rebounds and eight blocks in the 98-94 Game 5 victory.

Former Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl is in talks with the Cleveland Cavaliers for a front-office job. (AAron Ontiveroz, Denver Post file)

Former Nuggets coach and current ESPN analyst George Karl is said to be vying for a front-office gig with Cavaliers — a gig that doesn’t yet exist with the franchise. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Karl, the 2013 NBA coach of the year, is hoping to be added to the list of candidates should Dan Gilbert, the franchise’s owner, consider adding a president of basketball operations.

He was one of the most talented, controversial and practice-averse players in the game. And now, Allen Iverson, an 11-time NBA All-Star and four-time NBA scoring champion, will be documented in a feature film at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Told primarily in his own words, the film is said to cover “the highs and lows of the most distinctive and accomplished figures the sport of basketball has ever seen.”

The Nuggets acquired Iverson in 2006 in a trade with Philadelphia, where he had spent the first 11 years of his career. At the time of the deal, Iverson was averaging 31.2 points per game, second behind fellow Nugget Carmelo Anthony (31.6). Read more…

Chauncey Billups with the Nuggets in 2011 (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Chauncey Billups’ playing days may be nearing an end, but the University of Colorado product soon hopes to be wearing a new uniform in the NBA: a suit and tie.

According to The Detroit News, Billups, a 16-year veteran who signed as a free agent with the Pistons last July, said he believes he’s got what it takes to join the team’s front office after having joined its executives in meetings and learning how to scout talent.

“First I had to think about if I wanted to coach or if I wanted to do executive work,” Billups told The Detroit News. “I learned a lot. I kind of sat up under those guys and I gained a lot of experience.”

UPDATED: As Washington’s Andre Miller was about to enter the game for the first time Sunday at the start of the second quarter. he and Denver coach Brian Shaw touched hands near the scorer’s table and briefly chatted.

A little less than an hour before the Nuggets-Wizards tipoff this afternoon, Andre Miller more directly than before commented on the fallout from his dispute with Nuggets coach Brian Shaw and why he didn’t rejoin the team before his trade to Washington.

“It was a decision made by both sides, to benefit both sides,” Miller said in response to my question in the Pepsi Center’s visiting dressing room. “I said I wanted to stay away and they granted it. I wasn’t like it was made out to be, ‘He’s disgruntled, he’s exiled from the team.’ That wasn’t the case. I had a choice.”

Thirty years ago tonight, before the Detroit Pistons faced the Nuggets at McNichols Sports Arena, I was eating dinner in the press room. I was in my second year in the Nuggets beat after five seasons covering the NHL’s Colorado Rockies. This rarely happens today, but Detroit coach Chuck Daly was passing some of the pre-game time sitting in the press room, communing with the lowly members of the Fourth Estate and others.

Nuggets coach Doug Moe, as he often did, just poked his head through the doorway and smiled mischievously, checking out who was — and wasn’t — there. It was his way of saying hello.

Daly spotted him and called out, “First one to 140 wins.”

Moe laughed and responded, “We won’t even make it through the third quarter.”

Yep, the former Nuggets fan favorite has signed with Miami for the remainder of the season, his agent Mark Bryant told me this morning. Chris Andersen had signed two 10-day contracts with the reigning champs. He has averaged 3.7 points per game, along with 4.0 rebounds in 10.8 minutes. His player efficiency rating, though skewed a little because of the small sample size of minutes played, is an excellent 19.7.

The Birdman, 34, was released by Denver this summer but remains a popular figure here in town.

His legal case is unresolved, but Bryant seems confident that Andersen will end up OK, following a bizarre tale involving a girl who claimed she was of legal age, but possibly was not. Here is a recent Denver Post story about the case.

Former Nuggets player Arron Afflalo, now with Orlando, posts up former Nuggets player J.R. Smith, now with New York. (Getty Images)

Standing on the Pepsi Center court in an Orlando Magic jumpsuit this morning was a weird kind of feeling for Arron Afflalo.

“It’s different,” he said, grinning.

Because for what seemed like so many years, but in fact was only three, Afflalo was a Nugget. As far as fans were concerned, along with teammates and coaches, he represented most everything a good professional should be.

Mike Dunlap on the Nuggets sideline with head coach George Karl in 2006.

George Karl has been an NBA head coach since 1984 (the year Carmelo Anthony was born) – and the Nuggets coach said Tuesday that Mike Dunlap “might be the brightest, smartest guy I’ve ever been around.”

Dunlap, a former Nuggets assistant under Karl, has been hired as the Bobcats coach. Many basketball fans and pundits have said the same thing in the past few hours: “Who’s Mike Dunlap?” But Karl said, “I think this will have more positives than people are thinking right now.”

Dunlap is a key fixture in the Denver basketball community – he coached at Metro State for a decade, winning two Division II titles (in 2000 and 2002). And he was a Nuggets assistant from 2006-08, becoming close friends with Karl and others on his staff. Most recently, Dunlap was an assistant for Steve Lavin at St. Johns – and he was that school’s acting head coach last season, while Lavin recovered from a prostate cancer fight.

The buzz cut has grown out to a longer mane, but the trademark smile and jumper remain the same. Linas Kleiza is loving his basketball life so much more now.

First, he’s playing. Shelved for nearly a year after undergoing microfracture surgery on his right knee last February, Kleiza is just starting to get his legs under him. He’s played in nine games this season. Ice packs are a way of life now. Ho hum days where the knee is sore are plentiful. Annoying days when it doesn’t get the proper time to bounce back because of a jam-packed NBA schedule are constant and will remain so.

Still, he’s happy to be back. And tonight, he’s back in more ways than one.

With the new-look, team-oriented Nuggets on big-time roll, it’s a good time to get some perspective from Scott Hastings.

The Nuggets’ color analyst for Altitude TV and afternoon sports-radio host on 104.3 FM-KKFN, has been talking sports and hoops since he retired from the NBA in 1993. Considering Hastings was a perennial member of the NBA’s “all-interview team” during his playing days, it’s not surprising he now makes his living as an analyst.

Scott Hastings played 11 seasons in the NBA before beginning a career in broadcasting.

Hasting has agreed to take readers’ questions for the next installment of The Denver Post’s “Fan Mail” feature. Ask him about the current Nuggets, or get him to dig up some memories from season’s past. After all, he enjoyed a long, colorful career as an NBA reserve for 11 seasons.

This flew under the radar a bit in town, but the latest round of NBA cancellations means one thing for Nuggets fans looking to get a chance to personally voice their opinions to Carmelo Anthony this season:

They won’t get that chance.

Anthony and the New York Knicks were scheduled to visit Denver on Nov. 16. It would have been the first time he returned to Denver after being traded from the team in February, and there were a good number of fans that wanted an opportunity to “greet” him that night.

But when NBA commissioner David Stern canceled games through Nov. 30 late last week, it wiped out Melo’s return to the Mile High City.

There was some hope that the NBA would play all 82 games anyway, but Stern made clear the league will not be able to play a full season, telling reporters “It’s not practical, possible or prudent to have a full season now. There will not be full NBA season under any circumstances.” So any hope of retaining that game is on life support at best.

Depending on how the NBA sets up next season’s schedule, Anthony might not come back to Denver until 2013. And by then, time may have dulled the sharp edges of a fan base that felt it was wronged in the Melodrama that led to him heading out of town.

Follow Chris Dempsey on Twitter @dempseypost or email him at cdempsey@denverpost.com

Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony (7) gets a shot off against Boston's Paul Pierce on Tuesday in Game 2.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Last night, Carmelo Anthony played so well that TNT’s Charles Barkley said it was one of the greatest playoff performances. Ever.

With Amare Stoudemire and Chauncey Billups not playing due to injury, the Knicks’ Anthony scored 42 points (10-for-11 from the line) with 17 rebounds (five offensive) and six assists (yes, Melo had six assists in a basketball game). The Knicks lost, though, and are now down 0-2 to Boston.

Nuggets coach George Karl said he was watching from an Oklahoma City restaurant.

“He was fantastic — it’s what he can do,” Karl said of his old superstar.

Carmelo Anthony hadn't yet played a game in the NBA when he went fishing in Meeker with guide Rich Krause, shown, and Denver Post outdoors editor Charlie Meyers. (Charlie Meyers, Denver Post archives)

From the archives comes this article, featured on The Denver Post outdoors page on Oct. 5, 2003. Written shortly after Carmelo Anthony arrived in Denver for the first time since he was taken No. 3 overall in the NBA Draft. He was a 19-year-old rookie then, who hadn’t yet played a minute in the NBA.

He agreed to go fishing with legendary Post outdoors writer Charlie Meyers, in the hopes of filming a fishing show for ESPN. They flew to Meeker for two days.

Ty Lawson (3) has been terrific for the Nuggets this season. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

The dawn of a new calendar year generally marks the time when those engrossed in football begin to turn their attention in earnest to the hardwood. The Nuggets have had a season’s worth of stories in just over two months. We know you haven’t paid attention to every dribble and that’s why this is here to catch you up. Here’s what you missed:

The camera flashbulbs haven’t stopped popping and the cheering and chanting is just reaching its crescendo for former NBA star Allen Iverson, who is now playing in Turkey. If you want to see how he’s looking on the court you can do so on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. MT, when NBA TV broadcasts a game with his new team, Besiktas Cola Turka, of the Beko Turkish Basketball League.

Interestingly enough, it’s a big game for Iverson and Besiktas. The opponent, Fenerbahce Ulker, is the defending TBL champion, so the former 76ers/Nuggets/Grizzlies/Pistons guard can make an early statement that he’s ready and able to lead his team to a successful season.

Iverson, an 11-time NBA All-Star, scored 15 points in his first game with the team on Tuesday in a loss.

Chris Dempsey: www.twitter.com/dempseypost or cdempsey@denverpost.com

Comments Off on Want to catch up with Allen Iverson? Sunday is your chance

ESPN on Sunday aired a look-back doc on the Pacers-Knicks feuds from the ’90s fronted by Reggie Miller and Spike Lee, called “Winning Time.” Part of the “30 for 30” series. A good watch, about an NBA era a lot different than today. Back then, the rivalries were often more fierce because the characters were more fierce.

They spend a good chunk of time going over Game 1 of the ’95 Eastern Conference semifinals between the Pacers and Knicks. It’s the Spike Lee game, where Miller scored eight points in 8.9 seconds to steal in win in New York. Miller barked back and forth with Lee in the front row down the stretch, giving the choke sign at one point.

Anyway, the talking heads interviewed remembering the game tell about how they’ve never seen someone score eight points in nine seconds in an NBA game.

But Nuggets fans have seen it. They’ve seen it done for nine points in nine seconds.

Flash back to the 1994 season. Rodney Rogers’ rookie year. Fresh out of Wake Forest. Nuggets trailing the Jazz at McNichols by eight points with 31 seconds remaining.

Nine points. Three 3s. Nine seconds. Nugs come back to lead by one. (Nevermind they end up losing the game by one after Jeff Malone hit a jumper with 12 seconds left). And, almost more impressive, check Robert Pack recording three assists and two steals in nine seconds. Talk about padding your stats.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.